Posted December 28th, 2008 in afrigadget by Frerieke
…some are in the HEART. (Zintle sent me this text in a SMS on Christmas day…I just love it)
By Frerieke van Bree
How were your days?
I was happy to make a lot of people happy! All donations for the Sony Ericsson were in, …I could make the Afrigadget grassroots reporters “Mobile”. Lukho and Zintle were very excited. They now both have a wonderful phone to work with. Zintle captures her stories with the Nokia N95, Lukho uses the Sony Ericsson C702.
I had a very nice chat with a homeless Cape Town inhabitant, Madmoet Abrahams. He was so excited to hear that the photos I took would be online and viewed by a lot of people. The story of Madmoet is published on Afrigadget …go and have a look..
I just spoke to Nico, my young friend in Mozambique. He goes to grade 10 (15 years old). He and his family live on a small farm near Prado de Xhai Xhai. They live in extreme poverty (< 1 dollar a day), but are happy! Nico is a very clever and hard working young man, who told me he really needs a bicycle to go to school. His family shares a mobile phone. I have been trying to reach them the past weeks and finally got through now, so great! It is just incredible to know that this young man (Nico) has the ability to reach out and create possibilities through new technologies. I am so enthusiastic about Mobile Technology in the 3rd World!
So now what?
a. I want money for Nico’s bicycle and
b. I’ll figure out a way to get the money/or bicycle there
When and where did I meet Nico?
…a few weeks ago I was very lucky to be taken on a holiday by my mum and brother, who flew in from The Netherlands. We’ve rented a car and basically drove to the places that inspired us at that moment. One of the things we did was a visit to Mozambique. Our rental car was having a hard time on the roads full of potholes, our eyes enjoyed each and every bit of it. What a wonderful country! What an extremely friendly people (especially compared to South Africa…I guess the absence of the the fear oppression -Apartheid- provided space for a community to be developed, rather then a culture of segregation and aggression)Stepping in a different world, separated from this “luxury” South African world. No big shopping malls, not a lot of cars (yeah sure in Maputo), mostly:…no running water, no electricity, no money, no technology. Rural, like really rural. Small villages, compiled of traditional woven or clay houses, fruits and small farms.
Coconuts and palm trees all along the road, just like ..cashew nuts…in plastic bags floating in the wind, lots of them connected to a tree. The roads are full of Potholes, women and children walking. Baskets of fruit and wood on their heads. Some bicycles. Lots of Vodacom and Cell C. Mobile phones everywhere! no landlines. no computers. but hey…they all have mobile phones…can you see the potential!
Mozambique has been independent since 1975 and was colonized by the Portuguese (you don’t come far with English!…I was lucky to being able to communicate in Spanish). The civil war (between ’82 – ’92) has its scars visible all over the country. Firstly all the do-not-enter signs everywhere….the land mines dangerously waiting for some innocent child to play freely. Secondly the ruins all over the place! Each little village has the remainders of what used to be a great and wealthy place, beautiful buildings, not being touched by anybody at the moment.. the informal trade gathers around the previous villages.
We met Nico while setting up our tent in Prado de Xhai Xhai. He wanted to make some extra money for his studies, which he got by assisting us to set up camp. After that he invited us over to his house in a small rural village, where we met his father and little brothers. They climbed up the palmtree to get us some fresh coconuts! (check video!). It was such a delightful surprise to being able to connect with a family, together with my family from a completely different back ground.
Posted December 2nd, 2008 in afrigadget by Frerieke
By Frerieke van Bree
We have started the Afrigadget Grassroot Mobile reporting project!!!! How exciting!! With a big THANK YOU to David Sasaki who donated his Nokia N95. In Davids words: “I was given my N95 by the good people at Pop!Tech and I know they’ll be pleased that it will be used for such a worthy cause. And if you’re not reading Afrigadget you’re missing out.” I agree. And thanks Pop!Tech !
Yesterday evening we had our first session together: me in the kitchen, cooking….Lukho and Zintle behind my laptop, reading all the previous Afrigadget stories, exploring the phone, brainstorming together how to find stories.
I asked them to write a few words about why they think an initiative like Afrigadget is important for them/their communities…
By Zintle Sithole
Wow! When I first read Fre’s email I thought excellent! This is exactly what Africa needs at the moment. The weekend before I received her email, my family and I were talking about how everything is going on a downward slope especially in South Africa with the politics and crime etc. I guess people find it very hard to look beyond all the bad things that are happening and actually focus on the good!
Well I am very excited about this but I also feel kind of nervous because this is kind of intimidating a bit and I feel the pressure. The reason why I’m scared is that I don’t think there are enough (inventions, creative, unthought-of and untapped) things that are happening in Cape Town or in South Africa generally or is that I have been too isolated and ignorant to learn or go and find out about things that are happening in my community or the world that surrounds me?
I plan to make the best of every opportunity that has been granted to be at Afrigadget. I got the new phone that was sponsored to us (thank you David Sasaki !!!!). It is the Nokia N95, which is perfect for Afrigadget. Like you said Fre, it might be a bit on the fancy side but it is sure worth it!
Thank you very much Erik for doing this, it is a great opportunity for us! This is going to be a great avenue for us youngsters to realize the beauty of our countries and to show us that we can do more!
By Lukho Lufuta
My initial reaction to the Afrigadget project was one of tremendous interest, as I am keen on all things technological and consider this a great means to show the world exactly what Africa can do, and what our people are about and also the ways in which we think and live.
It is now my chance to showcase a different slightly positive side to Africa, using mobile technology, irregardless of what people think they know about us from the BBC or CNN news media. So I ask you, what better way to do this than to start with resources that is universal to confirm Africa’s inventiveness?
I am only too eager to start working on this project and am truly appreciative to people like Frerieke van Bree and Erik Hersman, who are innovative in such a way as to find a niche and then provide the correct platform for day to day ordinary people and present their inventions to the world.
